Light my way to the other side
by samettikettu
Summary: When he fell into the darkness of his own personal hell, one small light was enough to guide him out. And as he travels forward with his personal guide light, he finds another one, bigger than the last one. But as those lights are drowned by the darkness, he needs to find the light deep inside to find his way back to save his brothers. Can he do it or will the darkness consume him


**No beta used.**

 **Can be filed under "i had an anxiety attack and needed to get my feelings out before i explode into nothing but tears".  
Hope you like it.**

* * *

Around him all the familiar faces were starting to seem foreign and Sabo found himself lost in the dark abyss. His surroundings were cold and dark, he found himself reaching for anything to grab upon. His feet moved forward in the darkness, leading him forward.

Someone was watching him.  
He could feel their eyes on him, roaming all over his body. He felt vulnerable and naked, the heavy feeling in his chest grew bigger as he began to feel his breathing get stuck in his throat. He couldn't breath, it was too cold! The air was too heavy and he had no strength left.

The darkness around him grew tighter as he moved forward, the air got colder by every step he took and soon he found himself gasping desperately for air.

He fell, hands reaching down to catch him before he fell on his face. His knees ached under his weight. He felt so heavy.

The invisible walls around him came closer, caging him in.  
The walls that weren't there before, locked him inside a small space, forcing him to crawl into a small ball. His hands gripped on his hair, desperately trying to pull himself out of this nightmare.

' _It is just a nightmare'_ , Sabo kept whispering to himself, as he felt cold walls close up on him. His whole body ached, he couldn't see nor breathe. He was gasping, weak attempts to catch the last breath before he'd close his eyes for the last time. He squeezed his eyes shut, a small piece of his soul rolled down from his eye, dropping on the ground.

He felt something brush against him, something warm and soft. The touch lingered on his back, the skin under contact tingled pleasantly and Sabo found himself almost fly backwards. The sensation had been surprising, the gentle touch had given him the power to break away from the cage. His eyes moved through the darkness, hoping to find the one that had helped him to break free.

He gasped when he saw a small ball of light fluttering around him, his breath coming out in small puffs. Sabo raised his hands up and stared at them, he could see! The air felt slightly warmer, he breathed the air in hungrily, the weight on his chest lessening.

The light felt familiar and gentle, something he had experienced once before? A little shy, he reached his shaking hand to the light. He held out his palm and he shivered when the ball of light came to sit on him. Slowly, he brought his hand back, eyes staring at the tiny miracle with caring and gentle eyes.

' _You saved me'_ , he whispered silently to the ball. Just when the world was closing on him, the little ball of light had saved him. The tiny ball fluttered up and touched his nose, falling back onto his hands. The warmth spread across his face, slowly warming up the rest of his body. His body began to feel light and he found the strength to stand on his feet again. With the tiny miracle in his hands, Sabo looked around and listened.

The darkness was hissing at them, at him. It kept reaching for him, for the tiny source of light. He held the ball against his chest, protecting it from the dark tendrils reaching for it. He'd protect it with his life, just like the tiny miracle had done to him.

He kicked the remainings of the cage, shattering the whole thing into tiny glass shards. His footsteps were loud, the heels of his shoes clicked sharply to the ground.

He hunched down slightly, shielding the tiny ball more. His whole body was a shield, he had nothing else to defend his small guardian angel with. His body would be the shield _and_ the sword.

xxxx

As he went farther down the dark path, he met several other lights. They were all different colors, all reminding him of a person he once knew. The colorful lights swarmed around him, all curious and eager to see the one he kept hiding in his hands. The ball in his hands grew warmer by every new light that came by, until it was so hot he couldn't hold it anymore.

Sabo opened his eyes and marveled how bright and beautiful the light was. It shone more brilliantly than the others. The eight different lights seemed thrilled by the tiny bright light, they fluttered around it, almost like dancing.

The tiny light grew bigger, it was the size of his hand now but still smaller than some of the colorful lights. Sabo found himself worry over what would come to him now. Would the little light leave him to join the others? Was he going to be alone from now on once more?

As much as he wanted to see his new friend be happy, he wanted to hide it from the world and keep it all to himself. But he couldn't do that. The tiny light had freed him, he couldn't do the one thing that kept him from living.

To his surprise, the light wouldn't leave him.  
It would flutter a farther away but always came back to him. Sabo always saw it, it's shine helped him through the darkness of the abyss. He'd see the other lights get restless if they stayed in one place for too long. He'd hear them whisper and try to lure the bright light away from him, but the tiny miracle refused to leave him.

xxxx

Something was after them, Sabo could feel it. He couldn't see a thing and he wasn't allowed to look back. The black mist around them was slowly turning crimson and the air grew hotter by every step.

The tiny light fluttered around his head, excited. It bounced on his head, tinkling and giggling. Sabo didn't know what was ahead of them but he could feel the excitement starting to build up inside of him. The other colorful lights were still with them but stayed away from him, he could understand their annoyance since he was the one slowing them down and keeping their friend away from them.

At first, it was just a burst of heat and everything turned too bright for him. He shielded his eyes and felt the heat embrace him. He reached forward, trying to find something solid to hold on. The warmth was familiar, just like the tiny light's had been.  
He could hear someone whispering thing into his ears, things that immediately warmed up his insides and gave him energy and strength to continue. He opened his eyes to see a big ball of light, unlike the tiny ball, this one was bright red. It was like a friendly flame, it was alive and burning with warm light.

The red light reached for the small ball of light on top of Sabo's head and the ball giggled, rushing right inside the flame. Sabo gave a surprised shout, fearing his friend would get hurt. Instead, the flame shone brighter and he felt something warm flutter in his chest. He smiled, hands coming up to feel his face, as if he had never experienced true happiness before.

He reached for the two lights with a shaky hand.

He _knew_ what he needed, what he wanted.

Suddenly he was thrown back, back to the darkness of the abyss. The cold tendrils wrapped around his ankles, preventing him from moving. He shouted, tried to fight off the darkness holding him down.

He could see the lights, all shining brighter and darker than before. Their shapes were different now, they became fuzzy and aggressive. The colorful lights from before all flew away, all terrified of the darkness reaching for them.

Sabo screamed, reaching for the two remaining lights. He couldn't let the darkness harm them!

The cold dark abyss laughed, paralysing everything around them. The laugh was terrifyingly familiar. It drew all warmth and energy out of Sabo, leaving him breathless and afraid. He felt insignificant in the darkness, so small and scared. His body, his skin - it all ached. He fell on his knees, hands coming up to feel his face as he felt the skin on the left side of his face peel off. He screamed, the pain overtaking him.

In the distance he could hear the alarmed jingles of the tiny ball of light, it's noises sounded familiar to him.

The coldness was numbing him but it didn't take the pain away. Half of his face was gone and he couldn't breath. He fell forward on the ground, indifferent to feel the cold tendrils drag him to the ground. The mist surrounded him and clouded his vision.

He didn't care.

He was _useless._

The shrieks of the lights grew more distant as he let himself being dragged farther into the darkness. The cold numbness was almost welcoming. He couldn't feel any pain - he couldn't feel a thing. He closed his eyes and waited for the darkness to consume him.

Then he heard it.  
The shrill so clear and _too familiar_ :

" _SABO!"_

His name. It was his name, someone was calling for him! But where did it come from?! He pushed himself up but found himself half devoured by the darkness, he couldn't see or feel his feet. He looked back to see a huge mouth closing around his calves, sharp teeth biting into the flesh. He screamed. The shrill from farther ahead joined him, calling for him in urgency.

Sparing the giant mass behind him another glance, Sabo grabbed the tendrils in front of him and began to drag himself forward, kicking the mass' mouth trying to get his legs free.

The darkness growled around him. It bit down harder, drawing a growl out of Sabo. He grit his teeth together and used all his strength to pull himself forward. He raised his head up from the mist hovering over the ground and his eyes widened when he saw the state of the two remaining lights in the darkness.

The red flame-like light was smaller than before, burning in deep crimson as it shielded the bright ball of light at the very center of its body. The darkness was killing its flames, tendrils reaching for the tiny ball inside the red ball of fire.

Sabo could see how hard the tiny light was fighting to get out of the bigger ball but couldn't get out. His eyes watered as the scene was starting to change, the balls taking a human shapes before his eyes.

He roared, ripping off the ground. The darkness, surprised, opened its mouth and gave Sabo a change to strike. He brought down his fist, his whole arm covered with the powerful black armour, known as Haki.

He swept his eyes across the battlefield.  
So much death and destruction, there was nothing left. The cries of the innocent filled his ears and then there was that shout again. Sabo turned around and rushed forward.

There was still someone he could safe!

The darkness was there, it was everywhere. It was killing everything from its path as it crept forwards, dragging its heavy body towards the only light source in the world that stood in its way.

Sabo grit his teeth and prayed for his feet to take him faster. There was still _someone_ he could protect!

" _LUFFY!"_

His light's eyes were full of distress and fear. The tiny ball of light was injured on the ground. The red flame hadn't been enough to shield him from the darkness that was the hate for everything pure in the world.

His little brother's eyes were wide and full of tears, in his arms he held the remainings of what used to be his crew. They had all turned against him. They had been blinded by the dreams they never reached, then the sweet whispers of the darkness had promised them power. Power to reach their goals and dreams, and the cold darkness took their sadness away and replaced it with the numbness.

Luffy hadn't wanted this, he knew that. They had lacked the tenacity and inner strength to pursue after their dreams even after he reached his. He had offered them his help, just like back at the beginning but they were too ashamed to take the chance. Luffy had lost everything, his world had come crumbling down under him. He lost everything to the man who took everything away from all those years ago. He took his flame away, he had managed to save a small part inside him but it hadn't been enough. But Sabo wasn't going to let that happen to him.

He pushed forward, eyes darting from the dirty face of his brother to the man who wanted them all dead. At the sight of the man's dark eyes, something inside of him snapped. It was like a matchstick. The flame was small at first but as he drove himself forward, the flame for bigger until it consumed him.

Luffy's eyes grew bigger as he came to stand between him and the man of darkness, his body flaming and ready. The little brother screamed, clawing on his pants to move away from the way. He wouldn't let another brother get himself killed for his own weakness.

Sabo wouldn't spare the little ball of light a look, his eyes were drawn on the man who pushed forward to them. His body was like a mass of the abyss he was once consumed by, his eyes were wild and his mouth foamed, he was like a hellhound - here to deliver their souls back to his master.

The flame grew inside him, the familiar warmth giving him new strength to face the darkness face on. He felt someone stand by his side, the telltale grin on his freckled face. Sabo charged forward, his flaming black fist drawn back. Behind him he could hear Luffy scream for his name. The ugly grinning face was right behind him, fist came down to his head as he pushed his own forward.

xxxx

The world was light and he was the light.  
He fluttered around, smiling and laughing to himself. Beside him hovered a smaller ball of light, its color slightly transparent as it was still trying to find its place in the world. Ahead of them flew a red light, calling them to catch him as he was going up ahead. He looked around, his blue light mirroring from the lake below. He sighed, turning around to look at the smaller ball. The ball was there, brighter than before.

It smiled.

" _Thank you Sabo, for everything."_

" _That's what brothers are for."_

" _I will see you in the next life. I will find you guys! And once I do - we will have another adventure!"_

" _And this time it will be longer than the last one."_

The little ball laughed, fluttering up and down in the air. It then rushed forward, past the blue ball and up to the red ball, slamming into it. The red ball gave a shout and charged after the bright light, its crimson hue clear in the night air. The blue ball chuckled and rushed after the other two.

 _~fin~_


End file.
